Insurance salesman from Norcross wins $1M

Friday, June 29, 2012

ATLANTA – An insurance salesman in Gwinnett County has considered his Georgia Lottery prize a bolt from the blue. John Sears of Norcross has won a $1 million prize playing the instant game $100 Million Cash Blast.

Sears, 79, purchased his lucky ticket Thursday and claimed his prize at the Georgia Lottery District Office in Duluth.

“I just took two chances,” Sears said. “I didn’t realize I’d won until I thought about it.”

Sears and his wife, Jane, intend to pay off bills with their windfall.

Since its first year, the Georgia Lottery Corp. has returned more than $13.4 billion to the state of Georgia for education. All Georgia Lottery profits go to pay for specific educational programs, including Georgia’s HOPE Scholarship Program and Georgia’s Pre-K Program. More than 1.4 million students have received HOPE, and more than 1.1 million 4-year-olds have attended the statewide, voluntary prekindergarten program.